Cotton cleaning apparatus



April 20, 1948. 5, BROOKS 2,440,139

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INVBJNR. EUGENE H. sR'nuKs Patented Apr, 20, 1948 COTTON CLEANINGAPPARATUS Eugene H. Brooks, Dallas, Tex., assignor to Con- Company, acorporation of Delatinental Gin ware Original application June 7, 1945,Serial No. 598,095, now Patent No. 2,418,694, dated April 8, 1947.Divided and this application Decembe 19, 1945, Serial No. 635,947

This application is a division of my original application for Lintcotton cleaner, Serial No. 598,095, filed June 7, 1945, now Patent No.2,418,694, dated April 8, 1947, and an object of the present inventionis the provision of a lint cotton cleaning apparatus which shall beadapted to clean the cotton more effectively than has been thoughtpossible heretofore.

A further object of my invention is to provide a lint cotton cleanerhaving a "relatively large capacity and one which is effective toseparate the trash, motes, and other foreign matter from the lint cottonwithout throwing out an excessive amount of lint with the foreignmaterial thus removed.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a lint cleaningapparatus including a saw cylinder with stripper bars spaced relativelyclose together around the periphery of the saw cylinder so that the timeinterval of the passing of the lint cotton between bars is such thatlint being carried around by the saw cylinder has time to flare awayradially from the saw and be subjected to a beating action.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a lint cleaningapparatus including a saw cylinder, together with means to feed lintcotton to the saw cylinder in a manner to provide the maximum travel oflint on the saws, in combination with stripper bars at intervalsextending longitudinally of the saw cylinder and in closely spacedrelation to the periphery thereof.

In gathering cotton with mechanical pickers and when gathering afterstorms and late in the season, a large amount of dirt and trash isgathered with the cotton. Preliminary cleaning before ginning removes alarge amount of this foreign matter, but there is still left a greatamount of leaf, fine trash, and motes in such cotton after it is ginned.Heretofore in the art to which my invention relates, the cleaning ofsuch seed cotton 5 Claims. (CI. 19-67) has taken place entirely beforethe lint cotton is separated from the seed. Various kinds of cleaners,hull separators, and combined cleaners and dryers, have been provided toremove all foreign material possible from the seed cotton before it isfed into the gin. The lint coming from the gin has heretofore gonethrough a condenser and then to a baling press, no efiort being made atthe gin house to further clean the lint cotton. While apparatus known asre-gins have been I proposed for the renovation of damaged and ofi gradecotton after it has been baled and before it is spun, such apparatus hascontemplated the treatment of the heavy masses or bats of cotton fedfrom a combined cleaner and feeder i I.

resulting from its having been baled, and have depended upon centrifugalforce produced by the rotation of the re-gin saw cylinder to throw theforeign material out of the cotton, such force being aided by aircurrents, picker rolls and other devices. In no instance, so far as I amaware, has it been proposed to treat the lint cotton as it comes fromthe gin where it is separated from the seed, for the further separationof ioreign material therefrom. By means oi. my invention, the lintcottommay be cleaned directly as, it comes from the g or it may be used,as will be pointed out hereaite for cleaning lint cotton which hasalready been baled.

I have discovered that by taking the lint cotton from a condenser whichforms it into a relatively wide, thin, uniform bat and passingit-through my improved lint cleaning apparatus where it is subjected tosuccessive beating as it is carried around by the saw cylinder, that Ican effectively remove trash, motes, and other foreign material from thecotton and thus raise its grade and price materially. It will be obviousthat my invention is particularly adapted for use with dirty, trashy,off grade cotton which would otherwise produce a poor sample and sellfor a very low price. By the use of my improved method and apparatus,the grade, of such cotton may be materially raised, its utilityincreased, and its price enhanced.

Apparatus embodying features of my invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, forming a part of this application, in which Fig.1 is a diagrammatic plan view of an installation embodying my improvedlint cleaning apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view looking in the direction ILL-IIoi'Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the lint cleaning apparatus;

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the saw cylinder; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of one of the stripper bars.

Referring now to the drawings for a better understanding of myinvention, I show in Figs. 1 and 2 a cotton gin installation embodying abattery of gins In to each of which seed cotton is The gins l0 separatethe seed from the lint cotton, delivering the seed at the bottom throughthe usual seed conveyor i 2 and the lint to the rear of the gin. Thelint cotton may pass out from the rear of the gin through a duct Hi to acondenser 23 or may be diverted by means of a vane IE to a duct l'lleading to a lint flue. I8 which may be disposed underneath the floorl9. Cotton which Where the cotton, as it comes from the field, is

dirty or off-grade, the lint cotton from each of the gins I is directedby means of the vane l upwardly through the lint duct 13 to a condenser23 where the air current conveying the cotton is separated from the lintand the lint is delivered in a relatively thin, wide, uniform bat onto alint slide 24 leading to my improved lint cleaning apparatus. It will beseen from Fig. 1 that there is a condenser 23 for each gin and a lintcleaning apparatus 25 associated with each' condenser 23. In the lintcleaning apparatus 25, the heavier remaining dirt, trash and foreignmaterial is separated from the lint and is removed from the apparatus bya conveyor. Any fiber thrown off by the beating action passes downwardlyinto a blower 30 from which it is returned through a duct 35 to the seedcotton being fed to the gins l0, indicated diagrammatically to thecombined cleaner and feeder H. As shown in the drawing the blower 3|] isof that type and is so operated that a very gentle current of air isproduced thereby, the fiber being caught between the vanes thereof anddischarged through the conduit 35. Further, the current is insufficientto draw the heavier particles away from the conveyor 25. It is thussubjected to a second treatment. The cleaned lint cotton from thecleaner 25 passes out through a duct 21 to the lint flue l8 andcondenser 2| which delivers the cleaned lint to the press 22 aspreviouslydescribed.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 3, my improved lint cleaningapparatus comprises a relatively wide casing 3i open for the majorportion of its width across the top. Disposed within the casing 3| is asaw cylinder 32 comprising individual saws 33 mounted on a shaft 34 at aslight inclination to the shaft and spaced apart by means of spacers 36.By setting the saws 33 as shown, they sweep the area where the cotton isbeing fed to the saws and the bat of cotton entering the cleaner throughthe slide 24 is engaged evenly the length of the saw cylinder and is notcut by the saws. Mounted above the saw cylinder 32 at the end of theslide 24 are a pair of feed rolls 3'! which receive between. them thecotton from the slide 24 and feed it to the saw cylinder 32. The feedrolls 3'! are closely spaced with respect to theperiphery of the sawcylinder, and

are driven at a relatively high speed so that there can be no lappingover, or piling up of cotton in the lint slide 24 and the lint cotton isdelivered to the saw cylinder 32 in a thin, uniform layer with no pilingof fibers on the cylinder. Mounted within the casing 3| and extendingparallel to the saw cylinder 32, in closely spaced relation thereto, area plurality of stripper bars 33. The bars may be any suitable number andare disposed in spaced relation to each other, as shown in Fig. 3, aboutthe periphery of thesaw cylinder, it being contemplated that they shallbe close enough to provide such a time interval of rotation of a givenpoint on the saw cylinder between bars that the cotton fibers on thecylinder will fiare outwardly and strike the bars, thus being subjectedto successive beating actions. They are preferably angular in crosssection as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing, and are disposed, as shownrates them from the lint.

in Fig. 3, to present an edge to the lint cotton being carried around bythe saw cylinder.

The saw cylinder 32 is operated at a relatively high speed, say at aperipheral speed from 30% to 50% higher than the speed of the sawcylinder in the associated gin l0, so as to take the fibers from thefeed rolls 3! in a thin, uniform layer.

The heavier motes and foreign material carried by the lint cotton moveoutwardly of the periphery of the saw cylinder, due to centrifugalforce. and strike the stripper bars 38, thus being sublected to arepeated beating action as they are carried around by the saw cylinderwhich sepa- It will be noted that the casing 3| is open over the sawcylinder 32 and that the adjacent side wall and bottom are widely spacedtherefrom which prevents disturbing aircurrents and eddies from carryinglight trash back to the saw cylinder. The heavier trash falls into thehopper-like bottom 39 and into the conveyor 26, already described. Theescaping fiber falls into the casing of the blower 30 and is deliveredback to the gins [0 for reworking as previously described.

0n the opposite side of the casing 3| from the saw cylinder 32, Iprovide a brush cylinder 43 which is rotated in the direction indicatedto remove the lint cotton from the saw cylinder 32 in a manner wellunderstood. As shown in Fig. 3, a wall 41 separates the brush cylinder46 from the lower part of the casing and extends upwardly into closeproximity to the saw cylinder and prevents any motes or trash thrown outfrom the said cylinder from-remixing with the cotton doffed by the brushcylinder. It will be seen that by rotating the saw cylinder in adirection to carry the incoming lint cotton away from the 'brushcylinder 46, I provide the maximum of travel for the lint cotton on thecylinder 32 and can provide a sufficient number of stripper bars 38around the periphery of the saw cylinder to subject the lint cotton to amultiplicity of beating operations and effectively remove motes, trashand other'foreign material therefrom. I have found as a result ofrepeated tests that this may be done with no substantial loss of lintcotton and that a material improvement in the grade thereof is obtained.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious tothose skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptibleof variouschanges and modifications, without departing from the spiritthereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall beplaced thereupon as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A lint cotton cleaner comprising a rotary sawcylinder, a plurality ofcleaning bars extending parallel to the long axis of the saw cylinder inrelatively widely spaced relation to each other and in closely spacedrelation to the saw cylinder, a pair of feed rollers mounted over thesaw cylinder in closely spaced relation thereto and disposed to feedlint cotton in a relatively wide, uniform, thin bat to the saw cylinderto be carried around thereby and strike the cleaning bars, means tostrip the lint from the saw cylinder, a casing for the cleaner having ahopper-like bottom. a trash conveyor disposed at one side in the bottomin the path of heavier motes and trash, and a blower inthe bottom of thecasing on the other side thereof disposed to remove escaping fibertherefrom.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the cleaning bars arelocated alongside the saw cylinder in the direction toward which thecylinder rotates from the feed rolls, and in which a rotary brush isemployed to strip the cotton from the saw cylinder on the side oppositethe cleaning bars.

3. A lint cotton cleaner comprising a relatively wide casing, a sawcylinder mounted in the upper part of the casing in widely spacedrelation to one wall thereof, and disposed to rotate with its uppersurface moving toward the said wall, feed rolls mounted over the sawcylinder and adapted to feed cotton thereto in a relatively thin uniformbat, a plurality of cleaning bars extending parallel to the long axis ofthe saw cylinder on the side thereof toward said wall and in closelyspaced relation to the saw cylinder, conveyor means for relatively heavytrash disposed within the lower part of the casing on the side of thesaw cylinder toward said wall, means in the lower part of the casing onthe other side thereof from saidwall for removing lint thrown oif by thesaw cylinder from the casing, means to dofi lint from the saw cylinder,and a wall separating the dofling means from the lower part of thecasing.

4. A lint cotton cleanercomprising a rotary saw cylinder, a cleaning barextending parallel to the long axis of the saw cylinder and disposedclosely adjacent thereto, a pair of feed rollers mounted over the sawcylinder in closely spaced relation thereto and disposed to feed lintcotton in a relatively wide, uniform, thin bat to the saw cylinder to becarried around thereby and strike the cleaning bar, said bar causing thetrash in the lint cotton striking the same to be thrown outwardly anddownwardly of the saw cylinder, a casing embodying a wall spaced fromthe side of the cylinder toward which its upper surface rotates, therebeing an opening in the top of the casing between said spaced wall andthe saw cylinder, means to dofi lint from the saw cylinder after thesame is carried around past the cleaning bar, an inwardly and downwardlysloping section on the lower end of the spaced wall, a trough joined tothe lower portion of the sloping section and disposed to receive trashthrown against and sliding down the wall, a hopper like bottom for thecasing embodying an inwardly and downwardly sloping wall section, theupper end of the wall section of the said hopper bottom being secured tothe inner edge of said trough, and means to discharge from said hopperbottom light trash and escaping lint falling thereinto.

5. In a lint cotton cleaner embodying a casing, a rotating saw cylindermounted in the upper part of the casing in spaced relation to one wallof the casing, feed rollers mounted closely adjacent the saw cylinderand disposed to feed lint cotton in a thin uniform bat to the sawcylinder to be carried around thereby, a cleaning bar extending parallelto the long axis of the saw cylinder and disposed to be struck by thelint carried around by the rotating saw cylinder thereby to remove trashfrom the lint, means cooperating with the saw cylinder to dofi linttherefrom after the lint has struck the cleaning bar, means dis posed inthe bottom of the casing for removing lint and trash thrown off bystriking the bar, and a wallseparating the dofllng means from. the lowerpart of the casing.

EUGENE H. BROOKS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

- UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 271,578 Graner Jan. 30, 18831,037,340 Shaughnessy, Sept. 3, 1912 1,299,185 Howorth Apr. 1, 19191,658,731 Mitchell Feb. 7, 1928 1,963,260 Conrad June 19, 1934 1,963,262Deems June 19, 1934 1,992,454 Wallace Feb. 26, 1935 2,238,055 Hollerunget al. Apr.- 15, 1941

